Robs thought for the day....Can an old dog learn new tricks if so how?

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Robs thought for the day....Can an old dog learn new tricks if so how?

We had a death in the familyyesterday, one of my Aunts died. Events such as death alwaysget thinking how short life is and how much I still have the desire to do,achieve and learn. Makes me think of my Dad 94 when he says to me he got notime for this or that he has too much on his plate he needs to do. One wouldthink at 94 the list would be pretty exhausted but it aint. It has had tochange some but it aint got shorter.

Well I woke up today thinkingof how best to go about achieving what you want.

We have posts on our forumabout sketchup and each time we see the same comments made by many of us inrotation. We have posts on our forumabout hand cut dovetails and ditto to the comments.I posted a question recentlyabout using a skew We have guys that would liketo see their business do better or start a new oneMany of us would like toloose weight or loose a habit say like smoking

This got me to thinking. Howdid you learn to teach yourself or accomplish something new?

Do you struggle to learnsomething new or do you find you are a natural at picking up something new?

And This got me thinkingsome more because generally I don’t make resolutions why? only decided to do something new or differentjust because the calendar year starts new. You can do it any time.

Then I got to thinking aboutthe many Peoples/Nations I have been exposed to and those that have achievedsignificant progress and asked myself what is it that made these peopledifferent from the rest such that they achieved their success.

Does one need money to makeit happen, does one need size, does one need smarts or what is the keyingredient involved?

This got me thinking …aboutthose places and peoples that really stood out for me.

Singapore Germany China United States of America…..

All very different countriesand peoples. Different in size, different in wealth, different in culture,different in freedoms, different in education…

I came to the followingconclusion….one word makes the difference

Discipline.

But what does disciplinemean. I don’t mean what the Oxfordor any other dictionary defines it to mean and I am not trying to reinvent themeaning of the word.

To me it means completelydifferent things to different people.

This is a word to me that isassociated with the way you were taught its meaning.

Now the only teachings I hadwith this word were negative. Even when pure consequence was used as theoutcome of lack of discipline it was negatively motivated rather thanpositively motivated.

To be clear on what I mean itwas always …….or else biased. Take the garbage out or else you get a hiding. Doyour homework or else you get detention. My only association with the word inmy youth had to do with following orders.

The positive attributesassociated were never expounded.

But examine learning anything….fundamentallyit takes discipline.

discipline to read aboutthe topicdiscipline to practice whateverit is you trying to accomplishfundamentally thediscipline to work at it consistently.

But discipline alone if it isto be positively motivated has to come from desire and need/want but I arguethat desire is the greater force of the two.

My conclusion is disciplinemeans vigorously setting aside allocated time to incrementally work on yourvarious desires and needs and doing so consistently.

Where I think we fail toachieve is not in the discipline department but in the desire department andthen the prioritizing of these desires to match our lives realities

I truly admire the variousmany people at all levels of life that took to heart the time managementcourses most of us have been exposed to at some stage, they sure make it lookeasy to get a bunch of things done.

read what is sent to me and then let it sink in rather than have it shed off.. and yes i have taken the next step to get abetter understanding of sketchup, with dave!!! and as for some other things well time and money dont always come hand and hand..

If in Doubt, Build it Stout!
One hand washes the other!
Don't put off today till tomorrow!

My conclusion is discipline means vigorously setting aside allocated time to incrementally work on your various desires and needs and doing so consistently.

I like that. I am also thankful that you only have one thought per day. I hope you don't mind, but I did a little editing on your quote. Some people on this forum have been a very bad influence on your writing.

“When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.” - John Ruskin
“Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” - Oscar Wilde

Discipline and time management are pretty key to me...along with a healthy dose of OCD in what I'm involved in.

I'm a seven habits fan, I don't practice all of the habits, but it did change my life and how I prioritize getting the big rocks in the jar first along with a few other lessons. Part of time management is deciding what you want to do along with things you have to do (and evaluating if you have to really do them in the first place). My faults lie in the variables of what SWMBO throws into the mix and if I asked what she had in mind for my time. If I check with her first when scheduling my time, life goes a lot smoother.

Darren

To a small child, the perfect granddad is unafraid of big dogs and fierce storms but absolutely terrified of the word “boo.” – Robert Brault

Rob, that is a lot of thinking for one day. It was also a lot of reading for me and now you have me, in turn, doing some thinking about what you have said. Basically, I agree with you.

What you think of as discipline I guess I think of as self-control, self-motivation, and self-esteem. Those, plus the desire to be creative, to solve problems, and to do only good are what have driven me all my life.

And to answer the question you posed in the subject of this thread -YES. This old dog is constantly learning new tricks.

I'm not sure discipline is exactly the right word. In order to be successful at something and achieve the results that you dream of I think that one needs character, ethics, determination, encouragement and support.